Walter hart



(No Model.)

W. HART. FLAGSTAFF HOLDER.

Patented Deck 28, 1897.

UNITED STATES PATENT @EEICE.

WALTER HART, OF NEWV YORK, N. Y.

FLAGSTAFF-HOLDER.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 596,207, dated December 28, 1897. Application filed December 7, 1896. Serial No. 614,677. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WALTER HART, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvem en t in Flagstaff-Holders, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the drawings accompanying and forming a part of the same.

The object of my invention is the production of a new and improved flagstaff-holding mechanism by which a flag stafi or pole may be adjustably fixed at various different angles of inclination and the adjustable member of the mechanism be readily removable from its supporting member.

The invention consists, in essential features, of a base-plate constructed with means for securing the same to a building, windowsill, or other like support, of a staff-holding device and of a ball-and-socket mechanism between said plate and said staff-holding de vice whereby the staff can be arranged at different angles of inclination relatively to the said base or the support to which it is aflixed, and whereby the staff-carrying mechanism can be readily removed from its base.

Also the invention consists in various details of improvement in construction of said ball-and-socket mechanism, which will be more specifically set forth in the following description and the claims thereof.

. In the drawings, Figure 1 represents a perspective of one form of my improved flagstaff-holder. Fig. 2 is a plan View of the socket-plate and socket thereof, the ball and the staff-bracket carried thereby being omitted. Fig. 3 shows a section on line to w of the base-plate and socket, as also of a portion of the ball and bracket, the ball being grooved or roughened, whereas in Fig. 1 it is shown as plain or smooth.

Referring to the views in detail, A represents a support, such as a window-sill or the side of a building, to which the flagstaif mechanism is secured.

B represents the base or plate of the mechanism, screw-holes 0 being provided whereby the plate can be secured to any desired support, as by screws D. Preferably integral with this plate is cast or otherwise made the cylindrical socket E, the bore of which at its lower end is semispherical in form.

F represents the ball of the socket, which ball carries the staff-bracket G; which is provided with a socket H and the ring I, through the latter of which the flagstafi passes and the end is seated in the former. The walls of the socket E are recessed, as seen at J, these recesses being about the width of the neck K of the ball F. The walls of this socket are also provided with screws L, passing, preferably, diagonally through the same and to a'position so that when the ball F'is in the socket the points of the screws when seated will bear at all times upon the ball at a point above its greater diameter, and thereby locking the ball in the socket and forcing it to close frictional engaging contact with the bottom of its socket for the purpose of holding the bracket at any desired angle relatively to the socket-plate. To increase the frictional adhesion of the ball with the socket, the former may be corrugated, as seen at M, Fig. 3, and such corrugations may have a shape conforming to the end of the screws L. Other constructions, of the ball and socket for the purpose of increasing the frictional adhesion will be apparent, and so I illustrate only the forms shown. The axial center of the ball relatively to the socket may be changed, and consequently the inclination of the staff-carrying frame, by the screw N, threaded in the base of the socket E, and preferably passing through the same and into the woodwork of the main support A. Raising or lowering this screw will correspondingly raise or lower the ball in thesocket and increase or decrease the angular range of movement of the ball-neck in the socket.

The operation of this device will now be plain. Assuming that the ball is in the socket and a flag-pole in the bracket, the plate being affixed to a main support, it will be seen that a radial inclination of the frame can be had in any direction permitted by the difference between the sizes of the neck of the ball and the cylindrical opening of the socket, practically as illustrated by dotted lines a a in Fig. 3. At the same time considerable extension of adjustment is permitted, though not throughout a circle, by the neck of the ball dropping into the recesses in the walls of the socket, as shown by line b. In fact, by this latter adjustment adj ustability is provided which permits the flagpole to be set in various different directions at nearly right angles to the socket. This allows the socketplate to be placed in a great variety of positions. Thus if it is desired to hang a flag out from the wall of a building the plate may be fastened either to the vertical side of the building or to a side at right angles to the face of the building, whether Vertically or horizontally, and the flagpole can be adjusted to project in practically any desired direc' tion.

It is to be noted that the bore of the socket is cylindrical, which is for the special purpose of permitting the easy removing of the ball and the frame carried thereby from the basic support, the base part of the support being in practice permanently fixed to abuilding or other like support and it being desirable to remove from such basic support the bracket or frame which carries the flagstaii when the latter is not in use.

Various modifications of this structure are possible, and I do not, therefore, confine myself strictly to the construction shown; but

hat I do claim as my invention is- 1. In combination with a ball-and-socket mechanism for supporting a fiagstaff, a plate provided with means of attachment to a support and carrying a cylindrical socket, a ball adj ustably seated in the said socket and provided with means for engaging a fiagstaif, and locking-screws in the walls of the socket acting to fixedly hold the ball in said socket at various angles of adjustment.

2. In combination with a ball-and-socket mechanism for supporting a ilagstaff, a base plate adapted to be fixed to a support, a cylindrical socket carried by said plate and having its walls recessed substantially as shown, a ball adjustably seated in said socket and carrying by a neck or extension therefrom a flagpole-supporting device, and lockingscrews acting to fixedly hold the ball in the socket in different relative positions.

3. In combination with the cylindrical socket E havingrecesses J and means of attachment to a fixed support, a ball F carrying a pole-supporting bracket, and two or more screws L threaded in the wall of the socket and adapted to bear upon said ball for the purpose of holding the same locked in the socket.

4.. In combination with the cylindrical socket E having recesses J and means of attachment to a fixed support, a roughened or corrugated ball F carrying a pole'supportin g bracket, and two or more screws L threaded in the wall of the socket and adapted to bear upon said ball for the purpose of holding the same locked in the socket.

5. In combination with the cylindrical socket E having recesses .I and means of attaehment to a fixed support, a ball F carrying a pole-supporting bracket, and two or more screws L threaded in the wall of the socket and adapted to bear upon said ball for the purpose of holding the same locked in the socket, and a screw N or similar adjustable bearing part in the walls of the socket.

WALTER HART.

\Vituesses:

R0131. I GAYLORD, JAMES N. GA'rLow. 

